Five pro-democracy lawmakers and activists from Hong Kong were turned away from Macau yesterday in a mission to test if an earlier entry ban had been lifted, amid fears for freedom of expression.
The five were part of a 30-strong delegation who traveled to Macau to challenge government moves to deny entry to a handful of Hong Kong politicians and academics and a photographer in recent months.
Customs officers questioned Hong Kong lawmakers “Long Hair” Leung Kwok-hung (梁國雄) and Lee Cheuk-yan (李卓人) and three others when they arrived on a ferry from Hong Kong yesterday morning.
The officers then sent them back to Hong Kong, saying the decision was made in accordance with Macau’s internal security laws. The rest of the group was allowed to enter the territory.
Macau has turned away Hong Kong politicians in previous years, but the introduction of new internal security legislation last month has raised fresh fears, with rights groups saying it has the potential to stifle freedom.
The law was passed in accordance with the mini-constitution introduced after Macau’s return to Chinese rule in 1999 and prohibits treason, secession, sedition and subversion against the central government in Beijing.
Leung said he was frustrated at being turned away.
“The original idea of the internal security law was to protect Macau people against triad groups and terrorists,” Leung said.
He said that when he asked the officers which part of the legislation he had breached he was told: “The entire law.”
The lawmaker also criticized the Hong Kong government for failing to adopt a stronger stance against Macau on the issue.
Lee, leader of Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions, said he believed authorities were worried he would try to contact workers’ groups in the gambling enclave, where unemployment has risen sharply due to the financial crisis.
He said even low-profile members of Hong Kong’s workers’ unions had been barred from entering Macau in recent months.
The Macau government admitted yesterday that it had turned away five Hong Kong residents.
The Macau Police “has the responsibility to, in accordance with the law, refuse the entry of any non-Macau resident who does not fulfil the entry requirements in order to maintain the social stability and public order of Macau,” a statement said.
Macau Chief Executive Edmund Ho (何厚鏵) had said that Macau would not make any decisions detrimental to exchanges between the two Chinese territories.
A spokesman for the Hong Kong government said in a statement yesterday that Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang (曾蔭權) had expressed concerns earlier this month to Ho over the issue.
“The Hong Kong government will continue to monitor the development of the situation,” the spokesman said.
Some Hong Kong politicians fear Macau’s new law could smooth the passage of a similar bill in Hong Kong.
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